Last updated on 2015-11-19
When Attorney General Marty Jackley puts scum in the slammer, he shoots out a press release right away. When A.G. Jackley costs the taxpayers $242,000 through discrimination and stubbornness, well, we have to wait for the AP and court documents.
The state agreed today to pay $242,000 to the lawyers for the same-sex plaintiff couples in Rosenbrahn v. Daugaard who had to sue the state for the simple right to be married like everyone else. The details:
Governor Dennis Daugaard sends chief of staff Tony Venhuizen to tell the press that $242,000 is just the price of Jackley’s doing his job defending the constitutionality of South Dakota’s laws. But notice we’ve got two bills here. The District Court proceedings (and Jackley’s failure to make the case for the constitutionality of rank discrimination) cost us $144,595. On January 12, the state could have said, “Judge Schreier is right, we’re done fighting, let’s focus on rooting out corruption in the Department of Education.” But no: A.G. Jackley decided we’d be snarky and keep appealing, even though we knew darn well that the U.S. Supreme Court would settle this matter for us in Obergefell v. Hodges before the normal appeals court process could affirm or reject Judge Schreier’s decision. Heck, A.G. Jackley kept trying to jerk the plaintiffs around even after Obergefell. That jerkiness, that sheer spite, cost South Dakota another $97,405.
But hey, when you can spend other people’s money, it’s fun to go to court!
I told you so.
double that for what the state had in it. still likely not the whole picture.
He’s placating the right and playing his politics. Who wants to get married anyway? Get a prenup!
Will these rwnj states ever learn that they can’t trump the feds? Every state that has appealed has lost. You’d think some adult somewhere would finally inform the kiddie korps that recess is over.
bcb-should we call you Prophet?
mike, call me anything you like, just don’t call me late for dinner!
didn’t Jackley say it wouldn’t cost the state? Or was that one of the other stupid court cases?
Governor, $242,000 is still a hell of a lot of money to me and to most South Dakotan’s!
That is just the start. The fees are still ongoing to over $300,000.00 and counting. What a nimrod this Marty is with other people’s money. No wonder he could not make it as a real barrister, he had to go on the teat and that is where he will stay. See no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil about fellow gangsters in the Pierre cabal.
jerry, that may not be far off for the whole lot of them, the governors, the congressionals. wow
I stand to correct myself. The article I was referring to was written on September 10, 2015 and in that article, South Dakota was over the $300,000.00 mark and counting. This does not seem to be the case as it looks to be now settled for one hell of a lot of taxpayer moolah for nothing. The rest of my post, there will be no correction on as it stands.
The statement is insulting that Jackley was defending the constitutionality of a blatantly unconstitutional, bigoted law. The fact that he couldn’t or through willful blindness was apparently unable to see the law’s unconstitutionality appears to make him unfit for office. Excuse us guvnr, but the state’s laws are subservient to the federal laws via the supremacy clause. Don’t like it; start your own country somewhere else. The AG’s apparent hubris likely cost the state a cool third of million republican tax dollars, perhaps more. Nice bunt for a faux fiscal conservative. Take a read of Fareed Zakaria and get that sexual bigotry out of government and religion: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-main-message-of-pope-francis-and-jesus/2015/09/24/997e1e54-62ea-11e5-b38e-06883aacba64_story.html
Let freedom ring.
So, he’ll make a heck of a Governor, eh??
The SDGOP should reimburse the state’s taxpayers for this reckless wanton waste of tax dollars. Jackley’s just a puppet doing the bidding of the GOP central committee’s goofballs.
Thinking about what you say, John, it occurs to me that the state could choose to drop its case and settle at any time, even at the District level. In private life, if I am sued, I can choose not to go to court. I can acknowledge the rectitude of the plaintiff’s claim and tell my lawyer to settle before we ever go before a judge. My lawyer can’t unilaterally decide to forge ahead to the farthest extreme of legal resistance, just as my doctor can’t go to the farthest extreme of medical intervention to prolong my life if I say, “Knock it off.”
The state could have chosen at any point to acknowledge that Rosenbrahan et al. were right and that it was wrong. The state refused to do that. It lost this money not out of noble duty but rank disdain for homosexuals and equality.
Speaking of settling lawsuits,Breitbart’s widow/estate has agreed to settle suit brought against Breitbart for defaming former Dep’t of Ag official Shirley Sherrod. One of Breitbart’s first,heavily edited videos made her appear to be a racist against a white farmer. The video ,in its entirety,shows the exact opposite. Humble apologies for the off topic topic.
I think that everyone who didn’t support the lawsuit in the first place should send invoice the AG office for the $0.28 he wasted. Let the remaining bigots cover the cost.